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Affordable rental housing for poor soon

NEW DELHI: With many migrant workers facing eviction for not being able to pay rent as businesses came to a halt during lockdown, the government on Thursday said it will roll out affordable rental housing for the poor in urban areas and, in a first tranche, over one lakh unoccupied houses across cities being built under different government schemes could be put to use in a short time frame. This includes projects under JNNURM and can be readied with minor refurbishment, sources said. Announcing the scheme for Affordable Rental Housing Complexes (ARHCs) under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said migrant workers need affordable and convenient rental housing in urban areas in addition to social security. The lockdown has exposed the vulnerability of migrant labourers, skilled and unskilled, to sudden disruptions that require provision of emergency rations and protection from being unhoused. Several employers have refused to pay salaries, while daily wagers have no protection at all. Similarly, it is difficult to ensure government’s advice to landlords to not to demand rent for a couple of months . Sitharaman said detailed guidelines will be issued soon. The scheme will have three components. Government-funded housing in cities will be converted into ARHC under public-private partnership mode. The second component will be incentivising manufacturing units, industries, institutions and associations to develop ARHC on their private land and also operate them. “Some spade work has been done. Factories which have excess land would be encouraged to develop rental housing units for their employees and also for outsiders, if they want. This will help unlock unused land parcels in industrial estates,” a source said.